Churchville-Chili Senior High School Captures Top Award in Finger Lakes Regional FIRST Robotics Competition

The Churchville-Chili Senior High School “G.R.R.” (which stands for Greater Rochester Robotics) captured the Regional Chairman’s Award, the highest honor at the fourth annual Finger Lakes Regional FIRST Robotics Competition March 7-8 at Rochester Institute of Technology. The award recognizes the team best exemplifying the spirit of the competition.

The 23-member Churchville-Chili team, in its ninth year competing in the regional contest and sponsored by Bausch & Lomb Inc., advances to the national FIRST Championship April 17-19 in Atlanta.

The Penfield High School “Rolling Thunder” won the event’s second-highest award, the Engineering Inspiration Award. The team, which has competed in FIRST contests since 2005 and was last year’s Regional Chairman’s Award winner, is sponsored by Harris Corp.

Regional Winner awards were earned by the Shenendehowa High School “Rocketeers,” sponsored by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; the Joseph C. Wilson Magnet High School (Rochester City School District) “X-CATS,” sponsored by Xerox Corp.; the Union-Endicott High School “TigerTronics,” sponsored by BAE Systems; and Liverpool High School “Arctic Warriors.”

The all-female “X-NA” of Nazareth Academy, sponsored by Xerox, won the Rookie All-Star award for earning the highest rookie seed.

In addition to Churchville-Chili (the Regional Chairman’s Award winner), the recipients of the Engineering Inspiration, Regional Winner and Rookie All-Star awards are invited to compete in next month’s national FIRST Championship.

Kate Nordland of Greece, an RIT instructor of mechanical engineering, FIRST planning committee volunteer and mentor to the Churchville-Chili FIRST team, received the Regional Woodie Flowers Award, presented to an outstanding engineer for teaching excellence.

Spirited music and hundreds of participants and spectators dressed in bright colors filled RIT’s Gordon Field House and Activities Center for the two-day competition pitting 40 teams of high school students from the Northeast United States and Canada, along with their robots, in a sports-style contest called “FIRST Overdrive.” The Finger Lakes Regional contest is one of 41 regional competitions involving more than 1,500 teams and 37,000 students from every state in the United States, along with Brazil, Canada, Chile, Israel, Mexico, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

FIRST—For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology—aims to inspire students to pursue studies and careers in science, technology and engineering. The competition was created in 1989 by Dean Kamen, inventor of the Segway Human Transporter.

The Finger Lakes Regional FIRST Robotics Competition was sponsored by RIT, Bausch & Lomb Inc., the Democrat and Chronicle, Eastman Kodak Co. and Xerox Corp. RIT will award up to 10 scholarships valued at $6,000 per year.

2008 Finger Lakes Regional FIRST Robotics Competition award winners (partial list):

Regional Chairman’s Award: Churchville-Chili Senior High School “G.R.R.” (Greater Rochester Robotics)

Engineering Inspiration Award: Penfield High School “Rolling Thunder”

Regional Winner awards: Shenendehowa High School “Rocketeers,”; Joseph C. Wilson Magnet High School (Rochester City School District) “X-CATS”; Union-Endicott High School “TigerTronics”; Liverpool High School

Regional Finalist awards: Newfane High School “Circuit Stompers”; Webster High Schools “SPARX”; Naples Central High School “Grapes of Wrath”

Rookie All-Star award (highest rookie seed): Nazareth Academy “X-NA”

Judges’ Award: Palmyra-Macedon High School “Raiders”

Chrysler Team Spirit award: Greece Central High Schools “Gladiators”

Motorola Quality award: Joseph C. Wilson Magnet High School (Rochester City School District) “X-CATS”